Dear 15 year old me,

You have just begun high school, and it’s horrible. You dread walking down those hallways every single day because everything is changing and you can’t take it. It’s okay. I know for a fact that you can.

What I want to talk about, right now, is where you think you are in life right now. You’re fifteen. You’re in high school. You’re just about ready to get behind the wheel, and you have the mindset that once you do, you won’t need to rely on anyone else. This is not true.

You think you’re in love, but that guy really isn’t for you—trust me on this one. Don’t do everything for him. Don’t rely on him for your happiness. Don’t let him tell you your worth—he doesn’t even know the real you.

You hide behind the profiles you see on Tumblr daily. You go online and pick outfits based on your favorite blogger’s new post. You want to be her. You call it “inspiration,” but, in reality, you’re just trying to figure yourself out. That’s okay too.

You’ll make stupid mistakes. Really, really, really bad mistakes. But with them, you’ll make great memories as well. Really, really, really stupid experiences that are just so fun and funny that you wish you could bottle the happiness.

You’ll look at your peers and think they have everything you don’t. They think the same of you. I promise.

You’ll realize that high school is a big step, and there’s a big change in what is expected of you. You hate not meeting everyone’s expectations. But you’ll learn that it is impossible to do so anyway.

What and who you are right now is perfectly okay, remember that. In the future, you’ll look back at this age and blush with embarrassment. You won’t even remember what blogger you loved, and won’t even want to remember that guy you dated.

What is most important to understand is that right now, you are finding yourself. You’ll be searching for quite a while. I’m still searching now, but even I can tell I’m much farther along than where I was five years ago.

Don’t think that just because you don’t know who you are, that you are nothing. Don’t think that every single day doesn’t have an impact on who you become. Don’t think that you have a limited set of people you can be. You can do and be anything you want.

Don’t let older students blame you for who you are. Don’t let your peers mold you into the person they want you to be. And, most definitely, don’t let that guy do it either. Don’t let what people expect from you consume you. And don’t forget that everyone makes mistakes.

I just want you to know that everything you think you are is still in the works. And that’s perfectly fine. Be who you want to be, and nothing else.